Thread by @Imani_Barbarin

Promised: THREAD

here’s a thread on just how intertwined disability issues are to Black issues and how, even if you’re not disabled, you as a Black or brown person NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO DISABILITY ISSUES.

And look at anything that says something is “for the disabled” with a

Magnifying glass.

A lot of evil and shady shit goes down under the guise of protecting disabled people. Many rarely give it a second thought. People think of disabled issues as “niche” or freestanding from any other form of advocacy, but that is FAR from the truth.

Some of the most blatant examples are #FightFor15, Voting and, now, Covid 19.

Let’s start with #FightFor15, because it’s going to blow your mind.

So, a lot of you support a raise to the minimum wage and recognize that it’s current state primarily affects Black and brown

In the service industry. But, did you know that disability “advocates” were some of those most fervently opposed to the proposed legislation that would have raised it.

I put “advocates” in quotes because it was mostly parents of disabled people, direct care unions

And staff who worked at sheltered workshops and companies that take advantage of 14c legislation. See, 14c legislation allows for entities to pay disabled people beneath the minimum wage with the reasoning that production isn’t comparable to that of nondisabled people

As a part of some of those legislative packages that would have raised the minimum wage was a provision to outlaw that 14c laws.

Because disability services and Medicaid are often income based, it would have meant that Paying disabled people AT LEAST the minimum wage

Would have disqualified disabled people from services, additionally, the entities that pay disabled people beneath the minimum wage argued that it would be too expensive to pay disabled people and they Would be forced to shut their doors. Together they paid lobbiests and lawyers

To shut down that legislation. It didn’t work everywhere, but still...

Next, we have voting.

You’ve probably been hearing me shout this from rooftops or telling it to anyone that will listen, but in Georgia in 2018, the GOP shut down polling centers in predominantly Black

And brown neighborhoods with the completely legal justification that they were inaccessible according to the ADA. Now, legally Kemp was required to replace those centers with accessible alternatives in time for the gubernatorial election, but as you know, that didn’t happen.

With 60-80% of polling places inaccessible, this could happen virtually ANYWHERE. Seriously. Liberals and democrats should care about voter accessibility beyond election years so this can’t be a weapon against Black voters, but you know...

Now, your instinct may be that the ADA should be repealed or that something more should be put in its place, but right now, the ADA and disability rights groups are some of the only protection Black and brown communities have against racist and ableist medical rationing

Policies being put in place because of #COVID19. If you haven’t checked out the policies in your region, I implore you to READ THEM NOW.

Simply put, medical rationing policies are rules put in place to evaluate who is in line to get medical care should hospital systems reach

Capacity. They evaluate patients based off of pre-existing conditions that lessen a patients likelihood to survive with treatment should they contract Covid and it’s serious enough that they seek medical intervention. Several early drafts of these policies in states identified

Diagnoses like asthma, sickle cell, and diabetes—all illnesses that are common in the black community or are a result of systemic and environmental racism—and mean that those with these diagnoses were at the “back of the line for care.” Several disability rights groups have

Filed civil rights complaints over the policies and many have been changed with the advice of said groups.

Bonus: high rates of infection at nursing homes.

A couple years back. The trump admin lessened protective policies for nursing homes and are in the process of releasing

Many from liability of covid deaths. What people don’t realize is that many of the deaths in these homes is because of racism. Congregate care settings have always been detrimental to the disability community and this pandemic is proving that. Additionally, many of the staff are

Low-paid Black and brown people who themselves aren’t getting proper care because of medical racism meaning they are trying to “tough it through” the pandemic with little, if any PPE, at the mercy of an industry that profits off of warehousing the disabled and elderly.

So, the next time you think that disability issues don’t affect you, know this: institutional ableism doesn’t care whether you have a diagnosis or not.

It’s also imperative that you reject any policy or platform that says it’s “for disabled people” without the inclusion

Of Black and brown disabled people.

Ok, I’m done.